A new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, commissioned by the Australian Copyright Council, shows that the value added to the Australian economy by copyright industries has declined over the past three years from AU$100.2 billion to AU$93.2 billion.

Under World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) methodology, the core copyright industry is said to include newspapers, book publishers, musicians, film writers, actors, directors, video rentals, sales, broadcasters, cable television, photography, programming, development, wholesale and retail sale of software, artists and advertising, but the report also includes interdependent industries, such as hardware manufacturers.

The Australian copyright industry's contribution to the economy peaked in 2008, when it provided AU$100.2 billion to Australia's gross domestic product (GDP). That figure has since declined to AU$93.2 billion in 2011, although this was a slight rise from the AU$92.6 billion achieved back in 2010.

As a percentage of total Australian GDP, however, the contribution continued to decline to 6.6 per cent, from a peak in 2000 of 9 per cent. Comparatively, in the United States, copyright industries made up 11.1 per cent of GDP in 2011.